Topics and Posterior Analytics

Philosophy 21Fall, 2004

G. J. Mattey

Logic

● Aristotle is the first philosopher to study systematically what we call “logic”

● Specifically, Aristotle investigated what we now call “deductive” logic– “A deduction, then, is an argument in which, if p

and q are assumed, then something else r, different from p and q, follows necessarily from p and q” (Topics, Book I, Chapter 1)

● The assumptions p and q are premises● What follows, r, is the conclusion

Deduction and Fallacy

● In a genuine deduction, the conclusion follows of necessity from the premises

● In an apparent or fallacious deduction, the conclusion does not follow from the premises

● Aristotle separated genuine from fallacious deduction by examining the form of the deduction

● Arguments with a given form are genuine or fallacious, regardless of their content

Demonstration and Dialectic

● Deductions are of two types● In a demonstration, the premises are “true

and primary”– True and primary premises produce conviction

through themselves– Each is credible in its own right

● In dialectical deduction, the premises are “common beliefs”

Common Beliefs

● The common beliefs making up the premises of a dialectical deduction are either:– Believed by everyone, or– Believed by most people, or– Believed by the wise

● All the wise, or● Most of the wise, or● The most known and commonly recognized of

the wise

Contentious Deduction

● A truly dialectical deduction proceeds from what really are common beliefs

● A contentious dialectical deduction is either:– A genuine deduction proceeding from apparent

common beliefs that are not really common beliefs, or

– A fallacious deduction that apparently proceeds from common beliefs

● Real common beliefs, or● Apparent common beliefs

Fallacious Scientific Deductions

● A type of deduction that is neither demonstrative nor dialectical uses premises proper to geometry and related sciences

● These premises are wrong diagrams– Producing semi-circles wrongly– Drawing lines wrongly

● They are not common beliefs

● It appears that if the diagrams were correct, the deductions would be demonstrations

Uses of Dialectical Demonstration

● Knowing the forms of dialectical demonstration is useful in several ways– For training

● We can easily take on a line of argument proposed to us (for the sake of argument)

– For encounters with others● We can take as premises the beliefs of the others and

approach the subject from their point of view– For philosophical sciences

● Seeing things from both sides helps us find the truth● It helps us find the primary things in each science

Definition● What is definitory is a line of inquiry

concerning sameness and difference– Is knowledge the same as perception? (Plato)

● “A definition is an account that signifies the essence” (Topics, Book I, Chapter 5)– The account can replace the name

● Man is a rational animal– The account can replace the account

● Man is rational locomotive living thing

● Replacement of a name for a name is not definition, but only definitory

Definition and Dialectics

● We often argue dialectically that x is the same as y or that x is different from y

● Such arguments put us into a good position to determine definitions– If we have shown that two things are not the

same, we can undermine a purported definition– However, showing that two things are the same

does not establish a definition, since it does not provide an account of the essence

Distinctive Properties

● Some accounts of things reveal a distinctive property– Only human beings are capable of grammatical

knowledge– Only beings capable of grammatical knowledge

are human● The property “capable of grammatical knowledge”

is not of the essence of man, so giving that distinctive property does not define man

● Properties that are possessed only at times (being asleep) are not distinctive

Genus

● “A genus is what is essentially predicated of a plurality of things differing in species” (Topics, Book I, Chapter 5)– Animal is essentially predicated of men,

chickens, elephants, worms, etc.● Dialectical argument can be applied to questions of

the genus

– To establish that two things (man and ox) are in the same genus

– To establish that two things (man and oak tree) are in different genuses

Coincidents

● A coincident (“accident”) belongs to a subject● It is neither:

– Definition (essence)– Distinctive property– Genus

● For a given subject S, a coincident admits of:

– Belonging to S● Socrates is seated

– Not belonging to S● Socrates is standing

Coincidents and Distinctives

● Some questions concern the relations among the coincidents– Is the life of virtue or the life of gratification more

pleasurable?● These questions ask which of the two is

more coincident than the other● A coincident can be a distinctive relative to a

thing and a time– I am the only person seated now

Intellectual States

● A number of intellectual states are capable of grasping the truth

● Some grasp the truth invariably– Knowledge– Understanding

● Others admit of being false– Belief– Reasoning

Learning

● All teaching and learning begins with what has already been learned, as is seen from crafts and the mathematical sciences

● When we truly come to know, we may only use as premises in our deductions what has already been learned (otherwise, they are dialectical)

● Two kinds of things can be learned– That the thing spoken of is– What kind of thing the thing spoken of is

Learning by Induction

● We learn by induction when we are able to generalize our knowledge of a particular– A figure x inscribed in a semi-circle is a triangle– I demonstrate that x has property F– I generalize that all triangles of this sort have

property F● My knowledge that x is F is simultaneous

with my knowledge that everything like x is also F

The Meno Puzzle

● Suppose I am said to know by induction that for all x of kind K, x is F– All pairs are even

● Suppose I do not know that y and z are of kind K– There is a pair y, z that I do not know exists

● According to the puzzle in the Meno, since I know that all pairs are even, I cannot inquire into whether x and y are even, so I cannot know that they are even: a contradiction

A Bad Solution

● It had been suggested that one solves the puzzle by limiting the initial knowledge claim– All pairs are even

● Instead, it should be– All pairs of which I know are even

● But this “solution” means that we cannot learn through induction, which is false

A Good Solution

● We do not know in every way what we are learning– I know in a general sense that every pair is even– But I do not know what are all the pairs to which

this general claim applies● Thus, I can learn something about that

which, in a qualified way, I already know● Plato’s paradox arises only if we do not

qualify our knowledge claims appropriately

How We Think We Know

● We think we know something without qualification if we think we know– The explanation because of which the thing is– That the explanation is an explanation of that

thing– That the thing is not capable of being otherwise

● These three conditions are sufficient for knowledge, though they may not be necessary

Demonstrative Knowledge

● Knowledge through demonstrative deduction satisfies the sufficient conditions of knowledge

● Because it satisfies these conditions, demonstrative knowledge is a conclusion from premises that explain the thing

● Because the knowledge is from demonstration, the premises must satisfy the conditions for demonstration

Premises

● A premise is an affirmation or denial of one of a pair of contradictory opposites

● A principle (or “primary thing”) is an immediate premise which has no premises prior to it

● Premises can be distinguished in terms of the type of demonstration they produce– Dialectical, if affirming or denying are indifferent– Demonstrative, if something is affirmed or denied

because it is true

Premises of Demonstrative Knowledge

● The premises for demonstrative knowledge must have the following features:– They are true (so the conclusion must be true)– They are primary and immediate (and not

demonstrated or mediate)– They are better known than the conclusion

● We comprehend them● We know that they are true

– They are explanatory of the conclusion

Skepticism

● If all knowledge is demonstrative, then there is no knowledge at all– The principles of the demonstration must

themselves be known– Therefore, they are demonstrated from other

principles– These principles must be demonstrated, leading

to an infinite regress or circular reasoning– But an infinite regress of definitions is impossible– Circular reasoning violates the priority of

premises over the conclusion

Understanding

● Aristotle wishes to avoid skepticism without denying that all knowledge is demonstrable

● To do so, he denies that the principles of demonstration must be known

● The principles are more exact than their conclusion, and understanding is more exact than knowledge

● We have understanding, not knowledge, of the principles of demonstration

Prior and Better Known

● There are two senses in which x can be prior and better known than y– By nature: x is universal and y is particular

● The universal x is farther from perception than y– By us: x is particular and y is universal

● The particular x is closer to perception than y

● Only what is prior by nature can serve as principles of demonstration

● But what is prior to us leads us to principles, in a way to be explained later

Conviction

● If we are to know through demonstration, we must have more conviction about the premises than about the conclusion– What makes something F is more F than what is

made F● There must also be nothing which is opposed

to the premises that is better-known than the premises themselves– Someone knowing without qualification cannot

be persuaded out of knowing

The Reason for the Fact

● The premises in demonstrative knowledge provide a reason for the fact that is its conclusion

● The fact must first be established before a reason for it can be given

● Sometimes we establish the fact without giving the reason for the fact– If we establish that a shadow cannot be cast by

the moon, we establish that there is an eclipse

The Account

● The account describes what the thing is● It can also at the same time establish that the

thing is– If we establish that what lights the moon is

blocked by the earth, we establish that there is an eclipse

● The account is a definition of what the thing is (the “what-it-is” of the thing)– The definition of an eclipse is the blockage of

light by a heavenly body

Knowledge of Principles

● The primary premises of demonstration are either known innately or are acquired

● They are not known innately– If they were, we would have exact knowledge

which we did not notice for a long time● They are not acquired from no prior

knowledge at all– If they were, then we would not be able to learn

● They are therefore acquired after being known potentially

Perception and Experience

● All animals have knowledge potentially insofar as they have perception– They can have knowledge by perception of what

is present to them● Some animals can extend their knowledge

through memory● A number of memories makes up experience● So, perception is the basis of all knowledge

Grasping the Universal

● Rational accounts, applying universals to particulars, arise through experience

● Perception is always of a particular which has a universal character– I perceive man when I perceive Socrates

● When many such universals have settled in the soul, one grasps rationally that the universal applies to the particular

● This process is called “induction”